Examination of the validity of the WISC-III with urban exceptional students.
To investigate the criterion validity of the WISC-III, WISC-R and WISC-III IQs of 96 urban special education students who underwent a 3-yr. reevaluation were compared. The study examined (a) differences between WISC-R and WISC-III IQs and scale scores, (b) relationships among respective WISC-R and WISC-III IQs and scale sores, and (c) WISC-III IQ differences across three exceptionalities: Learning Disabled, Mentally Retarded, and Behavioral Disorders. A related question was to assess whether WISC-III Full Scale IQs differed by race. As expected, all WISC-III IQs and subtest scores were lower than the corresponding WISC-R IQs. Correlations computed among the three scales, respectively, indicated substantial conceptual overlap (Full Scale IQ = .88, Verbal IQ = .82, Performance IQ = .81). Analysis indicated a significant difference in WISC-III Full Scale IQs with respect to race. Comparisons by exceptionality and race indicated that African-American students in the Learning Disabled and Behaviorally Disordered groups obtained significantly higher WISC-III Full Scale IQs than did Euro-American students. No significant difference was obtained on scores for Mentally Retarded groups.
Sapp
G L
GL
University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Education 35294-1250, USA.
Abbott
G
G
Hinckley
R
R
Rowell
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002671:Child, Exceptional / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014505:Urban Population; D014888:Wechsler Scales